The present invention relates generally to devices for use in treating hair, and more particularly to a novel device for use in treating selected strands of hair during application of a hair treating substance thereto such as in coloring or tinting hair.
It is a common practice in the treatment of hair, and particularly women's hair, to selectively color or tint selected strands of hair while separated and isolated from the remaining hair strands. The processes for carrying out such hair treatment are conventionally termed "highlighting" or "low lighting" of hair, or "tinting" or "frosting". The general technique enables individualized treatment of one's hair in a manner believed complimentary to the individual. In accordance with one known technique for such treatment of hair, selected strands of hair are separated from the remaining hair and, while supported on a sheet of tinfoil-like material held in the beautician's hand, are treated with a hair treating substance such as a tinting or bleaching liquid. After applying the liquid substance to the segregated strands of hair, the foil sheet is wrapped around the treated hair strands in a manner to isolate them from adjacent strands of hair while the applied substance effects the desired color change. The foil is thereafter removed and disposed of.
Another prior technique for highlighting or low lighting strands of hair is to employ a liquid impermeable head cover or cap having a plurality of holes formed therein through which strands of hair may be withdrawn so as to segregate the withdrawn strands and enable application of a hair treating substance thereto without application of the hair treating substance to adjacent hair strands. This technique also requires wrapping of the treated hair strands, generally by tinfoil wraps or the like, until the hair has undergone the desired color change after which the tinfoil and cap are removed to facilitate final hair treatment and setting.
In addition to the aforementioned techniques for treating hair, a number of other devices have been developed for use in highlighting or low lighting hair. For the most part, the known devices enable isolation of selected strands of hair, application of a hair treating substance thereto, and wrapping of the treated strands so as to maintain them isolated from remaining hair strands during the treating process. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,871,388, 4,144,897, 4,196,741 and 4,224,954. While the devices disclosed in these prior patents have been found generally acceptable for their intended purposes, they generally require a substantial number of manual mainpulative steps during use which is both time consuming and inefficient. A further significant drawback with the known devices for highlighting or low lighting hair is that they are relatively complex in construction and therefore expensive to manufacture.